exhausted (Read 1980 times)

shadowlioness

posted: 8/16/2011 at 5:15 PM

Hello all!

I'm not-so-new to running (though its been a lifetime since i was consistent), but am new-ish to the forum (on again off again for a few years). Now that I'm getting back into it, I'm hoping for some feedback.

My guess is that you are probably running the run parts way too fast. It is not uncommon for people to think that they are not running unless they are running as fast as they could in high school. I know several people who equate running (of any kind) with sprinting.

My advice would be to slow down and see how that works for you.

When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

I'm not-so-new to running (though its been a lifetime since i was consistent), but am new-ish to the forum (on again off again for a few years). Now that I'm getting back into it, I'm hoping for some feedback.

I also go back and forth between pilates and zumba for cross training.

Anyway, signed up for a 5k race with some friends, and figured Couch to 5K would be an easy addition to my routine. But I only just finished week 3 and I'm exhausted!

The obvious things seem to be ok (8+ hours of sleep every night, 100+ oz of water everyday, 2 bananas everyday). Any ideas or recommendations at what I should be looking at and/or adjusting?

We have developed what we call a VO2Max Interivew, a series of 35 questions to estimate your VO2Max and, hence, 5k projected time. Some of you may have participated the initial "guineapig" testing (Eric did but didn't get the accurate reading and, back then, it was 17 questions and we have modified it quite a bit since). I used about 30 of my "former" Beginning Women's Running Class students who, some still run, some not; but at least I had the record of their mile time test that they did in the past. Some have gone on to run a few 5ks.

At any rate, we have a section with 5 or 6 questions about weekly activities; how many days a week do you exercise, how long per day, what's the effort level, etc.... Originally, our initial quesion had something like 20-min a day up to 60-min with 5-min increment. Well, interestingly, a lot of scores came back waaaaay too high, meaning, their calculated VO2Max far exceeded their actual mile or 5k time. What happened was; most of them continue to exercise, mostly at the gym, and when they say, for example, they do spin workout or whatever at the gym, it's hour (or minutes) just didn't translate to running. In other words, they do workout, but its duration was a far cry comparison to actual running duration. This was the only section we greatly modified. We, in the end, put definition like: "40-minute exercise (or if running, 5 minutes)"... That went on till "120 minutes exercise (or if running, 30-minutes)" with 10-min increment. And that seem to have worked just about right.

It's not a competition of which activity is the toughest or best or whatever; but running IS unique, in a sense, because you actually have to lift the entire bodyweight up into the air completely against gravity and, in fact, the faster you run, the further you'd have to propel your body into the air. Almost all other activities, some you have mentioned, cycling, swimming, eliptical, or roller blading...all of these won't have this airborne phase; your body is always suppoted by something (in the case of swimming, your body is floating in water). This, and coupled with the pounding effect from landing, makes running a bit harder to your body than other "aerobic" activities, as Lance Armstrong had found out.

Speaking of Lance Armstrong, as great a cyclist as he was, he "struggled" to run (well, certainly nowhere near his caliber as a cyclist). It is because it's a different activity. Just because your aerobic foundation is great with other activities and you are in great shape, doesn't necessarily mean you will be just as good with completely different activity as other activities that you are familiar with. It's like running at 10-minute pace ALL the time and hop in a race and expect to race at 8-minute pace. Your body becomes efficient with the activity that your body is used to doing.

Also, I'm sure you've seen the adaptation graph; you have the base fitness level and, as you exercise, your base fitness level actually goes down because actual workout is a break-down phase. Then as you take "recovery", your fitness level would come back up and then exceed the base fitness level--this is called "Super Compensation" or, simply, training effect. If the workload is too small and/or you take too long of a recovery period, then you won't gain much at all. On the other hand, if your workload is too heavy and/or recovery not enough, your base fitness level goes down deeper and deeper and, eventually, causes Chronic Farigue. It's not that any type of exercise at any level of effort for any amount of volume that is good for you; there IS such a thing as right amount of exercise, right type and right level of intensity. If you don't have that balance and just do, do, do... It may not be all that good. It's not just do it; you've gotta do it right.

Finally, I don't know about other people but I just can't run worth $hit if it's right after I mow the lawn. I just cannot get my legs moving at a decent rate. So, in this wonderful heat wave of midwest last month, I would run at 2 or 3PM on weekend and then come back and mowed in the evening. No matter how hot it was, I'd still have a better run if I do it BEFORE my mowing. I have no trouble mowing for 1:30 after the run. This is why, in a sense, I respect triathlete very much--I'm sure they trained their body to do it that way though. So there's this priority factor as well.

I'm not sure about this 100+ oz of water business either. I don't know if you're actually following the signal from your body to drink that much or simply read it somewhere some elite triathlete or roller blader drinking that much water and imulating it; if your body sends a signal that it needs that much, fine. But if not, you've got to remember, if you are only taking water and no electrolyte, sometimes too much water can actually dilute your body fluid and dehydrate you further. So be careful with that.

shadowlioness

posted: 8/17/2011 at 11:13 AM

Thank you everyone for the replies!

In regards to the water, its just thirst. I live in Colorado and its been hot and dry, and derby practice is in an outside rink with no shade. During a 3 hour practice its not uncommon for me to refill my 24 oz bottle at least 3 times. My apologies for the TMI, but it doesn't result in more frequent trips to the restroom... we sweat buckets. Most of us can turn our helmets upside down and the sweat just pours out. I'll try replacing some of the water with Gatorade or something.

The reason for the bananas is that I used to get the shakes halfway during practice. So I started eating 2 bananas everyday and haven't had the shakes in months.

And I totally hear ya on the running slow part! But I don't think I can run much slower than I already am... it feels like a crawl (I think I actually walk faster) and my buddy and I talk the whole time. I feel great before, during, and after the workout.

The exhaustion part doesn't kick in until around the end of practice each night, at which point I can barely finish the drills. When I get home I just crawl into bed and I'm out as soon as my head hits the pillow... and can sleep through most anything (including a great party with lots of drama that a neighbor threw, and I found out about the next day).

A friend recommended sparkpeople.com to track food; looks like I can set up individual reports for different nutrients, including salt. I'll start tracking and see what turns up. Is there anything other than salt that I should be looking at?

In regards to the water, its just thirst. I live in Colorado and its been hot and dry, and derby practice is in an outside rink with no shade. During a 3 hour practice its not uncommon for me to refill my 24 oz bottle at least 3 times. My apologies for the TMI, but it doesn't result in more frequent trips to the restroom... we sweat buckets. Most of us can turn our helmets upside down and the sweat just pours out. I'll try replacing some of the water with Gatorade or something.

+1. I'd focus more on total calories and meal timing than any specific food or nutrient.

I have to agree with this. Food is your friend. A balanced diet is good for you, especially with your highly active lifestyle. Don't be afraid to eat and eat often!

shadowlioness

posted: 8/22/2011 at 1:57 PMmodified: 8/22/2011 at 1:58 PM

I overdid it this weekend. 2 day derby training clinic, so between Saturday and Sunday there was 12 hours of skating and 2 hours of off-skates cross training (mostly calisthenics/aerobics). So, I splurged food-wise this weekend, as seen in the sudden increase in calorie consumption:

Nutrient

Wed., 17-Aug

Thurs., 18-Aug

Fri., 19-Aug

Sat., 20-Aug

Sun., 21-Aug

Calories

2,028

1,994

1,994

3,279

2,999

Fat (grams)

93

65

65

129

91

Carbs (grams)

200

278

278

370

250

Protein (grams)

103

81

81

134

80

Sodium (mg)

2,706

2,204

2,204

4,447

6,459

The first 3 days (17th, 18th, 19th) are pretty typical. The last two days (20th and 21st) were the clinic. It seems to me that my carbs are low everyday, but the other values seem good. Thoughts?